8 | / 10 |
Users | 4.7 | |
Reviewer | 4.5 | |
Overall | 4.6 |
A magical adventure story centering on Pi Patel, the precocious son of a zoo keeper. Dwellers in Pondicherry, India, the family decides to move to Canada, hitching a ride on a huge freighter. After a shipwreck, Pi finds himself adrift in the Pacific Ocean on a 26-foot lifeboat with a zebra, a hyena, an orangutan and a 450-pound Bengal tiger named Richard Parker, all fighting for survival. Based on the best-selling novel by Yann Martel.
Starring: Suraj Sharma, Irrfan Khan, Tabu, Rafe Spall, Gérard DepardieuAdventure | 100% |
Epic | 42% |
Coming of age | 13% |
Surreal | 10% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 MVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1, 1.85:1, 1.33:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1
French: Dolby Digital 5.1
German: DTS 5.1
English SDH, German, Spanish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Three-disc set (2 BDs, 1 DVD)
UV digital copy
DVD copy
BD-Live
Blu-ray 3D
D-Box
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A, B (locked)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
Life of Pi wants to make you a believer. In what, though—faith or reason, hope or hard truths—is up for interpretation. Reflecting back
on the events that made him who he is, the film's middle-aged narrator (Irrfan Khan) does give a kind of feel-good proof for the existence of the divine,
but he also offers us some cold, painful, materialistic facts, and asks us to chose between the two. Life of Pi, then, is essentially about how we
opt to see the world, and the story is itself a sort of litmus test. The 2001 novel by Jann Martel on which it's based has been variously interpreted as a
spirituality-affirming fable, a slyly atheistic screed, and a loosey-goosey declaration that it's fine to believe whatever you like so long as it gives you
comfort. Thematically, the movie is just as inscrutable and potentially divisive, and it's likely to inspire much satisfying post-viewing discussion.
While it may not significantly shift your worldview—it's more likely to reinforce what you already hold true—Life of Pi will make you a believer
in the power of CGI and 3D in the hands of a real cinematic visionary. Director Ang Lee proves here that mind-melting visual effects don't have to be
relegated to blockbuster action movies, and can be incorporated into a more nuanced and artful story. For years, the novel was proclaimed
"unfilmable," but at last month's Academy Awards, the film adaptation netted Oscars for Best Visual Effects and Best Cinematography, along with Best
Director and Best Original Score. See it for the spectacle, and stay for the philosophical debate.
Whatever else it is, Life of Pi is one of the year's biggest spectacle films, and it has a Grade-A Blu-ray release to match, with a 1080p/AVC-
encoded presentation that's often nearly as dimensional in 2D as it is in 3D. Shot digitally with Arri Alexa cameras, the film has a very clean look. As
expected, you may notice light noise in some of the darker scenes, but otherwise, the image is entirely free from source or compression issues—no
artifacts, no banding, no aliasing, no distractions whatsoever. While some the effects-heavy shots seem a little soft—probably to help with blending—
most all of the live-action cinematography is tack sharp. See Pi's chapped lips after months on the life raft. Or the individual beads of sand on his face
when he washes up on shore. Or the fine texture of the writer's t-shirt. Of course, this is often an insanely colorful film as well, and the Blu-ray handles
those intense hues easily, without ever looking oversaturated or unbalanced. On the contrary, there are a few scenes that could probably withstand a bit
more contrast, but this is a purely aesthetic decision. Regardless, the picture on the whole has a great sense of pop and clarity. Did Claudio
Miranda's cinematography deserve to beat out Roger Deakins' work on Skyfall for the Academy Award? That's another argument entirely, but
Life of Pi is certainly one of the year's best-looking Blu-ray releases thus far.
If you're one of those "all 3D is gimmicky" naysayers—and I certainly was for a while—I challenge you to decry the artistry with which Ang Lee and his
team have applied the extra dimensionality to Life of Pi. This is one of those rare films where the 3D really does add to the experience in an
impactful and engaging way, and if you own a 3D-capable television, this is certainly one of the best discs available for demoing the tech. For starters,
clarity and color are practically indistinguishable from the 2D version, so you're not sacrificing much of anything there. Better yet, the application of
depth and presence is never in and of itself distracting; it's very subtle and natural in the way it envelopes you. The rippling waves, the candles on the
river during the Vishnu ceremony, Pi floating underwater watching the ship sink into the depths, the flying fish madly flapping in the air around the
lifeboat—there are so many showpiece moments, but none of them scream out obtrusively, "Hey, look! I'm in 3D!" As in Prometheus, some of
the best uses are the simplest, like seeing the characters just move through the frame in the middle distance, the foreground almost tangible and the
background realistically dropping back. It just works.
Note: There are two spots in the film where the aspect ratio changes suddenly from the normal 1.85:1. During the "flying fish" sequence that was used
as a teaser for the movie, the top and bottom close in to 2.35:1, and there's a single overhead shot of a whale passing beneath the lifeboat that
inexplicable squeezes in to a windowboxed 1.33:1. I'm not sure what the rationale or workflow was here, so I can't really comment on it, but don't be
alarmed by the out-of-nowhere framing changes.
Life of Pi crashes and roars with a full-fledged lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 surround track. I wouldn't call this an action movie, but there's
certainly a lot of action in it, and it's all mixed with an energetic immersiveness, particularly once we get to the sinking of the cargo ship during the
furious storm. Swells pound the deck and water sprays. Thunder ka-chunks and ripples outward. Rain pours down from all sides. We're put right in the
middle of the tempest, and deep pulses from the subwoofer ensure we feel it in our bones. The showpiece audio sequence is probably the scene with the
flying fish, which go darting and flapping through the soundfield, occasionally thwacking into Pi. The oceanic ambience remains even during the quieter
parts, where we hear sea birds and wind and the lapping of the water. My favorite sound in the film, though, might be Richard Parker's claws scraping
the sides of the lifeboat, desperately trying to catch hold. It's an incredibly precise noise. That level of careful audio design really is maintained
throughout the movie, and the mix is always dynamic and clear, with dialogue that's easily understood. Surrounding the effects and voices is Mychael
Danna's Academy Award-winning score, which effectively mixes Indian instrumentation with western orchestration.
Note: The included 2D disc includes a myriad of dub and subtitle options—see above for details—while the 3D disc is limited to Spanish, French, and
German dubs, as well as English SDH, Spanish, and German subtitles. Both discs feature an English descriptive audio track.
2D Disc
After scoring four Academy Awards last month, Life of Pi is sure to attract lots of attention on home video, and it deserves it. While it may not be the life-changing experience it wants to be, it is at least thought-provoking and sure to generate some post-viewing discussion, particularly if you watch it with others of differing worldviews. Besides that, it's simply gorgeous to behold and probably the best adaptation we could've asked for from a book previously considered "unfilmable." 20th Century Fox's Blu-ray release does justice to the film's eye-candy visuals—particularly if you go for the 3D version—and the disc includes a wealth of special features, including a terrific hour-long making-of documentary. Highly recommended!
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